In the blackest of rooms
by random-k
Summary: Neutral run (Genocide to Papyrus ending), through alternating viewpoints.
1. You and Me

In the blackest of rooms

* * *

 _I own nothing but my own ideas._

 _Alternating perspectives of a neutral run._

* * *

 **You and me**

* * *

 _Stories in the underworld. They begin when someone falls down._

 _When you fell, you thought you were going to die alone. When you died, you thought you were to die for thousands._

 _Its funny how life works._

* * *

You wake up, in a field of flowers, skylight high above you. It hurts to breathe, you may have gotten the wind knocked out of you.

Eventually you stand, still breathing heavily.

You follow the path, hoping to find a way up and out. Instead, you find a flower. One who can talk. The flower talks about LOVE, and wants you to run into its… "friendliness pellets".

There's not exactly an escape so you do as the flower says. What harm can it do?

Quite a bit as it turns out.

The flower starts laughing at you. Kill or be killed.

A goat thing chases it off before it can, kill you for its soul. Why would it need your soul?

The goat thing is named Toriel, and tests your ability to solve puzzles, and tells you to talk with what is clearly a fighting dummy.

That's when you start to hear the voice inside your head. Maybe you have a concussion?

While Toriel scares off anything that jumps out at you, while you are walking, she soon leaves you alone to go shopping.

Shakily, you settle into a baseball stance with your stick. Maybe, you can get them to leave them alone. Maybe you can knock them out fast enough to catch up to Toriel.

The more you use it , the easier it gets.


	2. We've seen everything to see

**Have seen everything to see**

* * *

 _Stories in the underworld. They often start with a fall._

 _It's what you do, after getting back up, that determines the ending._

 _Some get angry, and lash out at others who come to help._

 _Some stay on the ground and cry._

 _And some take the hand that is offered, gracefully._

* * *

This human, brings back memories. So similar to the first human, she met. Visually, at least. This one… this one has a cold foccus to them.

Their not looking around the underworld in wonder. They don't seem to have time to play.

It unnerves her.

What kind of child is this?

While she is getting pie ingredients, stories begin to circle the market. There are monsters missing. Monsters who haven't been seen, since before the human fell.

It leaves her uneasy. The way home is too quiet. The monsters she does see on the way home, are terrified, and planning to leave.

This is not peace.

She goes back home, to memento's of those who fell down here before. So many memories. How long, has she spent in this house, surrounded in them? She's a coward.

The human stays for a bit, but keeps trying to leave, after. She keeps stopping them. The underworld grows quieter. Humans and Monsters, are both capable of great and terrifying things.

She can't stay neutral anymore. She has to take action.

Letting the human leave will be detrimental to everyone.


	3. From Bangkock to Calgary

**From Bangkok to Calgary**

* * *

 _Stories in the underworld. They often begin when someone falls._

 _some take the hand that is offered, gracefully._

 _Others may pull the hand to the ground with them._

 _That's what you did, the first time you fell. Very prophetic, as it turned out._

* * *

Despite what everyone believes, you are not as naive as they believe you to be. You are an optimist. You believe monsters can be talked down, that hurting someone to the point of falling down, should be the last action taken, as its the only one impossible to undo.

You see the dust on this human. They have fought many monsters to get to this point. What use would fighting even do?

You could fight, but that would not do anything. So instead, you talk.

" _HALT, HUMAN!  
HEY, QUIT MOVING WHILE I'M TALKING TO YOU! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAVE SOME THINGS TO SAY."_

They seem to be listening.

"HUMAN! I THINK YOU ARE IN NEED OF GUIDANCE!"

They seem to be coming closer.

"I SEE YOU ARE APPROACHING.  
ARE YOU OFFERING A HUG OF ACCEPTANCE?"

You are nervous. This will either work, or fail spectacularly.

"I, PAPYRUS, WELCOME YOU WITH OPEN ARMS!"

There has to be some good in them


	4. And the soles of your shoes

**And the soles of your shoes**

* * *

 _Stories in the underworld. They start when someone hits the bottom. That's what makes a story interesting, the climb back to the top._

 _Monsters came down here after a war they lost. Though they came willingly for peace, they long for nothing more now then to climb back up._

* * *

Papyrus believes in potential. That all monsters are good. That all monsters can change.

You don't believe that. Some things, cannot be undone.

The monsters who flee from the ruins in terror. The quiet spaces where there should be monsters among the snow. Fallen friends. It makes it easier in some ways. You have anger to drive you.

Anger that will make it easier to kill this final human soul, the one that will free the monsters.

Asgore can't keep doing this by himself. It's taken a toll on him. He's losing hope. A lot of monsters these days, feel they will fall down, before they see the sun.

Already too many have fallen. They don't seem to know what they have done.

" _Alphys's history books made me think humans were compassionate... BUT YOU? You're just a remorseless criminal. You wander through the caverns, attacking anyone in your path. Self-defense? Please. You didn't kill them because you had to. You killed them because it was easy for you. Because it was fun for you."_

They run at first. You chase them, anger driving you to keep going in the relentless heat. At first, there is fear in their eyes.

Until they stop. Then there is anger. They bring out their weapon.

Apprehension fills you. Perhaps you have gone a bit too far, in provoking them, perhaps you are about to see how they got so dusty, firsthand.

 **No**

This is no time to back out.


	5. Are all worn down

**Are all worn down**

* * *

 _Stories in the underworld. They often start with a fall of some sort._

 _You fell down here, and every human who followed you seems to share your fate._

 _Are you here to witness an end? Or a new beginning?_

 _The soul is red like your own was._

 _Its ominous._

* * *

You are nervous about the human. True, they have not killed anyone here. They seem to have stopped killing monsters.

But the dust on their clothing tells a different story. The fresh dust in particular. Undyne's. Maybe. Hopefully not. After all, just because you haven't heard from her in a bit, doesn't mean she fell, and no news is good news, right? She could be fine. Just tired.

It's good to have a script. It's easy to get lost in it, to pretend everything is fine.

Papyrus proved they would listen to reason. They don't have to kill anyone, especially if they are not attacked, right?

They have been getting better at communicating to monsters.

But Mettaton.

What if he says something to push them?

Will you see a friend fall down in front of you? And what would you do, if it happens?

You hope you do not have to find out.


	6. The time to sleep is now

**The time to sleep is now**

* * *

 _The oldest story in the underworld, started when you fell._

 _You have had a long time to think, and, you weren't the best person, in retrospect. When did you first start falling?_

* * *

The dust on their clothes tell a story. The blood in your garden tells a similar one. It's been a long time, since you declared this war. You remember, what the sky looks like. The clouds bold and dark on a rainy day, and white and soft looking on a sunny one. The sharp sting of the wind blowing on a cold winter's day, and the smell of leaves in a breeze of fall. The moon, waxing and waning in the sky.

You don't think you will see it again.

Determination can have a funny effect on time down here, in the hands of a human. They can get back up, after you strike them down.

They tell you that, hoping you will stop, step aside, let them through.

You can't.

You have to strike them down, again, Again, **again** , and again, until they stop getting back up. Until they lose hope, and determination gives way into despair.

You have done this six times.

At first, it was easier. You were driven by anger then, the loss of your son, the loss of the human child, the scorn of your wife, a wound, driving you to kill them without mercy.

Regret comes later. They are children, after all. Children, like the child you knew. Small and wide eyed, and in familiar clothing. You almost suspect Toriel does it to make you feel guilty.

Then you do it for duty. If you give up, if you fall down, many others will lose hope and fall too. You are a king. You are responsible for taking care of your citizen's. You can not let them fall into despair, into dust.

The humans get dustier every time.

And it occurred to you, they are doing it because of you. In hopes of having enough LOVE to kill you. How many monsters have fallen to their dreams of reaching freedom?

You have killed six.

This one is dusty. This human has spread fear, has directly caused the fall of many, and indirectly caused many more to fall out of fear, out of losing hope.

Your ex- wife is among the dust on their clothing. As are many of your friends.

You have to fight. There is no way out of that, not anymore.

 **But even if you do win, it won't be much of a victory.**


	7. There's nothing to cry about

**But its nothing to cry about**

* * *

 _The oldest story in the underworld, began when you fell down a hole._

 _You fell, and you fell, and even after someone pulled you back up, it seem as if you jumped to keep falling._

* * *

Papyrus is king. In name, at least. In practice, a lot of the running of the kingdom falls to you.

They didn't kill your brother. You didn't kill the human, as you promised Toriel. A hard kept promise.

Was it worth it?

It doesn't matter. Promises are all you have now.

Papyrus gave you a look, when you told him everyone was on vacation, but still, he loudly proclaims he wishes that they would send him a postcard.

His spaghetti technique has improved through practice. It's almost edible now.

Moral is pretty low, no matter how hard Papyrus tries to improve it.

The human souls are gone. They have even less progress to going to the surface than before the human child fell down here.

Papyrus has made a difference. The human had left the ruins full of dust. Papyrus had stopped their path of death and destruction. By being himself. By negotiation, by by believing in the Humans potential for mercy, he had saved a lot of future monsters from becoming dust.

That's what gives you hope these days. That humans can be reasoned with, that they can be made to care, that they can view monsters as beings instead of obstacles.

Maybe


	8. Cause we'll hold each other soon

**Cause we'll hold each other soon**

* * *

 _Stories in the underworld, begin when someone falls._

 _But what started it? Was it you? Or are you simply a long list of people who have fallen, and are the only one who fell far enough to get back up._

* * *

You don't understand it. You don't get why they had stopped, what they had started.

You don't understand a lot about why they did things. You never did. You only begun to understand some things when it was far too late to fix.

Kill or be killed. You had convinced them. You had thought you were reminding them.

They had lived and died by that, in this life.

Until Papyrus. Until he had convinced them, until he had spared them.

Who would have thought they could be so weak, so easily swayed. Especially by such a forgettable skeleton.

You had thought, that they were moving closer to strike him down, like the rest. But they didn't. And for the life of you, you can not figure out why?

They killed the other boss monsters. But learned other ways around the everyday ones.

Had it simply gotten boring?

Perhaps.

Its not as though they ever explained. Although, often you felt in tune with their thought process regardless.

They are the only being still capable of surprising you. You would not have it any other way.

You know that they will come back.

They have determination, after all. And you have no doubts they will reset. You look forward to seeing them again.

After all, exploration should be encouraged.

This isn't over.

You best friend hasn't been down here for years, after all.

There are still so many things to do. Variables to explore.

And you will be with them the whole way.

After all, its your best friend.


End file.
